Kyatric You wanted it, here it is!
Developing a character by use of what is commonly called RPG elements is a common practice today. Yet if done wrong, it will only serve to overcomplicate a game for a really underwhelming effect. Since I am too lazy* to reformat the whole post, I will simply link you to my blog post where I discuss this topic and separate character development into two types, vertical and horizontal.
Here's the link!
And let the discussion begin!
<font size="2">*and also because my blog is new and needs more traffic.</font>